2K sheds light on NBA 2K13 partnership with Jay-Z

2K’s Vice President of Marketing Jason Argent has provided some more details about the nature of rapper/mogul Jay-Z’s role as executive producer of the upcoming NBA 2K13.

Speaking to Complex, Argent says that the publisher brought Jay-Z aboard in order to best reflect the cultural and entertainment aspects intrinsic to the NBA.

“If you look at the NBA, the product as a whole, basketball is obviously at the core, but it’s a lot more than that,” Argent said. “It’s music, culture and entertainment. We wanted to have that feel injected into our game. When we launched 2K12 last year, we sat down and talked about how we could make the next one better. We wanted to take some of that music, culture and entertainment and put it into the game. Whenever we all talked about it, one name kept coming up, Jay-Z.”

Argent notes how the partnership was something both parties were really eager to do, and assuages certain fans’ concerns that the basketball sim will become one big advertisement for Jay-Z’s business ventures.

“He’s going to be involved in a very streamlined capacity. This isn’t about Jay-Z promoting himself or us promoting him. It’s about his involvement from a creative standpoint. You won’t be seeing him in the center of any of our ad campaigns or anything like that,” he said.

Argent went on to say that more information will be made about both the partnership and the game in the coming weeks, although he did confirm that Jay-Z will not be a playable character when 2K13 launches this October. I suppose we should add that to the list of 99 problems then.

Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. For more information, go here.

2K has confirmed Jay Z as executive producer of NBA 2K13, after the video announcing his participation leaked a bit early yesterday. The rapper/entrepreneur has also hand-picked the game’s soundtrack, which as also been detailed.